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Kimberley Strassel

The GOP turnout myth

In Florida, 238,000 more Hispanics voted than in 2008, and Mr. Obama got 60% of Hispanic voters. His total margin of victory in Florida was 78,000 votes, so that demographic alone won it for him. Or consider Ohio, where Mr. Romney won independents by 10 points. The lead mattered little, though, given that black turnout increased by 178,000 votes, and the president won 96% of the black vote. Mr. Obama’s margin of victory there was 103,000.

This is the demographic argument that is getting so much attention, and properly so. The Republican Party can hope that a future Democratic candidate won’t equal Mr. Obama’s magnetism for minority voters. But the GOP would do far better by fighting aggressively for a piece of the minority electorate.

And that, for the record, was the GOP’s real 2012 turnout disaster. Elections are about the candidate and the message, yes, but also about the ground game. Republicans right now are fretting about Mr. Romney’s failures and the party’s immigration platform—that’s fair enough. But equally important has been the party’s mind-boggling failure to institute a competitive Hispanic ground game. The GOP doesn’t campaign in those communities, doesn’t register voters there, doesn’t knock on doors. So while pre-election polling showed that Hispanics were worried about Obama policies, in the end the only campaign that these voters heard from—by email, at their door, on the phone—was the president’s.

Blowback

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. But equally important has been the party’s mind-boggling failure to institute a competitive Hispanic ground game. The GOP doesn’t campaign in those communities, doesn’t register voters there, doesn’t knock on doors. So while pre-election polling showed that Hispanics were worried about Obama policies, in the end the only campaign that these voters heard from—by email, at their door, on the phone—was the president’s.

This.
Whoever was in charge of this for the Romney campaign totally dropped the ball. The Democrats now know that they can win by turning out non-voters no mater how tilted the field is against them. The only way for Republicans to win ever again is to beet them going door to door.

What the candidate promises no longer mean anything — these voters never hear it. The only thing that maters is going door to door and selling people on voting your way, and you have to go where the people are to do that.

When will the GOP ever learn? The old diatribes like ‘moochers’, ‘panderering’ isn’t gonna work anymore. If the GOP continues down this path, winning another Presidential election is gonna be almost impossible. The minorities, in general, view repubs as racists. They have been conditioned by the MSM and popular culture. You’ve got to aggressively reach out to them, which most pubs won’t do. You expect them to come to you. Lol. Reach out to them, show them respect, and talk bout what conservatism is all about. Thats whats needed. You keep talking bout ‘free stuff’, ‘moochers’ etc., and you’re never gonna win. Try things a little different, pubs. The electorate has changed. Either evolve or perish.

Dongemaharu: She’s implying (or I’m inferring) that engaging with hostile voters face to face is far less contemptuous than ignoring them, so even if Republicans hold to their principles the GOP will make marginal but potentially important gains by at least trying. Plus it’s not as if every single Hispanic (let alone Asian) voter lives or dies by the amnesty/borders issue.

I’m thinking that a “white” party that didn’t even engage white voters can scarcely be expected to bond with anybody else.

I hope so. I know one thing for sure, we’re going to have to fight the ideological battle against progressive taxation, welfare and sub-prime lending if we’re going to prevent the massive wave of suffering that is headed right for us.